S20: Talk

[Rusun]

How cathartic, the sighs of relief when Season 16 ended! It seemed the nadir of nadirs, a nightmare from which we would awaken and recover - by means of back-to-back zeniths in TAR17 and UB.

Tragically, such progress popped harder than the South Sea Bubble.

• Easily the most soul-crushing elimination order in the show's history, featuring the least likable Final Four ever.
• Painfully lop-sided standings in the manner of Seasons 9 and 13, with the lowest number of teams to win a leg since TAR14's twelve-episode standardization.
• An inexplicable regression into a single W-Turn the entire race in contrast to the two preceding seasons.
• Mediocre tasks in general, every Bollywood-dance countered by a Masai-hop.
• If any positive quality, perhaps the route, the last season to host unvisited countries: Paraguay and Azerbaijan in this case.

[SirDigbyPollo]

Argh.  TAR 20.  I stopped watching after Mark & Bopper were Philiminated.  Couldn't stand any of the Final Four teams.  Heard about a year later that Army Guy and his wife won.  Thank the stars we don't have to see any of those Final Four on TAR ever again.  Oh, wait...  Dagnabit!

[TheRabbi]

Interesting season.  In agreement with the OP that the elimination order was pretty devastating, even though I am among the few that liked the winners (and I at least tolerated Art and JJ).  The first elimination in Argentina is still probably the single wildest elimination in the show's history, perhaps only topped by a certain "oy vey" 2 seasons later.

 

The cast:  Every season has unlikeable teams, and as mentioned, its a shame that mostly they all survived to the end, shades of season 6.  I had never seen BB before, and quickly found out why this Rachel character was so hated.  She makes this season almost impossible to rewatch, though if I do, I will likely FF her scenes.  Too many teams made up of cops/agents/war vets.  Most of the likeable teams weren't around long enough to be very memorable.  Naturally, this season was pretty much 50% Mark and Bopper, and 50% B/R.  And Mark and Bopper are simply wonderful, and would be the sole reason I rewatch this season down the road.

 

The route: above-average.  It's the last season that has been lite on European legs, coming in at just 2 (and Torino was at least a fun new city).  A great new visit to Paraguay, and a so-so first visit to Azerbaijan.  Leg 2's bunching halfway through and then quick RB/pit-stop was a little jarring.  Always love when they get to Africa.  Then the end of the route kind of imploded, with yet another trip to both India and Japan (similar to season 23 which started extremely promising before devolving in yet more Indonesia and Japan).  The finale though, despite being the millionth leg in Hawaii, and with mostly unlikeable teams, was a very well-designed leg, with a close finish which always helps.  Certainly a step up from 19's awful finale.

 

So overall this was an alright season, but without Mark and Bopper would have been almost completely unwatchable in the last 2/3 of it.

[Rusun]

It's also ironic that the pre-season promotional song, Panic! at the Disco's "Ready to Go (Get Me Out of My Mind)", signified the almost complete lack of mental tasks this season - the arithmetic RB being the sole exception. Just how savvy would the militia teams have fared against a German Fraktur font task or a Sudoku Route Info Marker?

[Whimsy]

Since some older seasons are available to view on different platforms, we are starting all episodes threads for each season.

[Supay]

Baku was a cool-looking new destination, but other than the "find the right fruit in this vehicle stuffed with them" Detour, the HoO at the Zoroastrian fire temple was the only worthwhile thing - the FF/RB could have been performed anywhere else and the other Detour was as tasteless as that facial hair trimming gimmick in the previous country. Thank goodness that it's the round with the least amount of drama among the largely poisonous cast.

 

Asuncion, on the other hand, looked like a random city in interior Mexico with equally generic challenges: it's one of the most unjustly praised episodes ever, with a subpar leg winner and a pointless "race for last!" between two crappy teams.

Edited January 10, 2016 by Supay

[TheRabbi]

Finished this season yesterday after ordering the Amazon dvd's when they came out. A word of warning: the quality control on these things is still questionable. I had audio but no video on my player. I was going to contact Amazon, but decided to dig out my PlayStation 3 since I had watched seasons on that before, and it worked ok. So it likely depends on the player's internal components. 

 

I overall liked this season on rewatch more than I thought I would. Brendan and Rachel are the only ones I couldn't stand. I actually found Art and JJ kind of endearing in their brutal honesty of what they thought of the other teams and their alliances. And their ending being Art's inability to complete the sled challenge is a tough way to go. 

 

The challenges may not have had a ton of cultural significance, but there were some pretty brutal legs, especially in Paraguay and India. And a fair amount of self-navigation as well. And I've always hated the u-turn, so it having only one appearance was great (most likely it had other opportunities that got edited out if they weren't used).

 

Mark and Bopper are certainly among the biggest fan favorite teams ever, and it's a shame they didn't get a true second chance in season 24. Their story and racing was awesome. Another example of the real and genuine teams being the best, which is sadly something the casting people seem to frequently forget.

 

The finale is overall rather blah since the remaining teams don't offer a lot to cheer for, though as mentioned I kind of liked Art and JJ. It's a shame the 'teachers' couldn't hang around longer, but that tent assembly was brutal for them in Africa. That Tanzania episode is so ironic with the two different ends of the spectrum on the show. They show the entire childish arguments at the airport between the two childish teams. And then they show the beautiful and stunning scenery of Tanzania and that crater. Focus on the scenery, show! 

 

Enjoyable season overall, and that premiere still has one of the craziest eliminations ever. Poor golfers. I've had season 22 and 23 preordered for ages, but still no word on when Amazon will actually produce these.

[Roccos Brother]

Well, the winners were very predictable – up until the last minute when they accidentally skipped the final roadblock, then there appeared to be a slither of a chance that JJ and Art were going to pull off a hugely surprising victory.

Didn’t care for the winners, but they were probably the least awful of the teams left. Lots of alpha males and some petty drama on this season. JJ and Art were the second coming of the boorish cops Mike and Louie from Season 16. They redeemed themselves slightly when they offered to share their prize money, but then gave the schoolteachers a hard time, which landed them back my s**tlist.

Brenda and Rachel annoyed the crap out of me – this coming from a fellow whiner with a pretty high tolerance for TAR whiners. I don’t know how or why Rachel has ever been cast on anything, let alone been the BB victor. Her type of drama is not amusing or entertaining at all.

Some very unbalanced and poorly designed legs – my two favorite teams (Mark and Bopper, and the teachers) were unable to escape last place, despite everything working out for them in their respective final legs.

On the other hand, as much as I loved Mark and Bopper, and felt terrible seeing them struggle in India, I felt the Bollywood director took pity and went easy on them judging their final attempt. It didn’t matter ultimately, but it saved them from having to take a penalty and I’m sure it boosted their morale.

Bopper looked good with a shaved head. The twins were pretty, but I always want the alpha male teams out asap, so no tears shed there.

Japan had some cute challenges, and gorgeous Africa made good use of the HD.

[Roccos Brother]

I forgot to point out the adorableness of the guidos’ animal hats. <3

[SVNBob]

I fell out of TAR watching for a while, and have been meaning to play catch-up.  With the upcoming season being a All Star season of sorts (including Survivors, who don't bother me too much, and BB contestants, who always have since TAR5), I decided I should go ahead and watch the relevant previous seasons before that one starts.  I know the seasons to watch (but not really who to watch for...no spoilers please.) so I started with the first episode of the earliest season I needed to see. 

And within 5 minutes, I began regretting my decision.  As stated, A BB team was bad enough, but these two?  Double that.  And then I saw the Jersey boys.  "Oh good, two teams for me to hate."  (Although I may change my mind about the self-professed guidos as time goes on, depending on their Race behavior.  But not the other team.  Screw those imports.)  No issues with other teams yet, but the Kentucky boys might grow to be annoying if they can't control their volume.  (Enthusiasm is great and all, but the one is at an 11 when I could really use him at a 5-6).

Onto the leg itself.  Damn, that opening task was a killer.  I mean, I kinda get it.  Having a needle in a haystack task at the start to help with the initial plane bunching and while the teams are "fresh" (Tour de Phil notwithstanding) makes sense.  But when the last place teams are only really starting the Race nearly 2 hours behind, it feels unfair, even if it's about to be somewhat nullified by said plane bunching.

Argentina.  Beautiful locations, as per usual.  Having the first real task after getting there be a Roadblock felt odd for some reason.  A Detour but no Roadblock in Leg 1 seems "normal".  But a Roadblock without a Detour; that's a bit weird to me.  (As is Roadblock before Detour, but not as much.)  However, the fact that it was a Roadblock that involved both Racers somewhat mitigated that oddness.  Adding to that that the Racer not doing the Roadblock was made to jump from the plane is a nice, if somewhat expected, twist.

Empanadas!  This seems like a task that would be one side of a Detour (similar tasks have been on other Races).  And the trick with the two kinds of crimping was a nice touch.  It would have been better in a later leg, once KF has started kicking in, to see if Racers are still able to pay attention.  Also, since they were in Argentina, I'm letting the "empanada Nazi" joke go.

Three teams with car problems in the leg.  The clowns had some issues with stick early in their driving (leading to the title quote), but managed to do better by the Roadblock.  The Jersey boys TH about Mama asking about learning to drive stick a couple days before them leaving...and Mama being right managed to endear them to me some.  They're at least self aware.

That leaves the Philiminated sisters.  And talk about problems.  Almost everything went wrong for them from the get-go.   They were the last ones to find the starting clue at the starting line.  Then the one got their car stuck in sand during the Roadblock, putting them into last place.   Then they neglect to read the clue properly before the empanadas and leave their bags in their car, costing them time later.  Then when they just pip the Jersey boys on the empanada task, they can't find Phil in the middle of an open courtyard!  That allows the Jersey boys to finish ahead of them, thus causing their Philimination.  Has there even been a team with a worse first/only leg?

This is the first season of the Race I've seen that has the Express Pass.  Because of that, I'm not sure what to think of it yet.  I'll have to see it used before I pass any kind of  judgement.  However, I like that it has a leg limit, so it can't be used for an insta-win at the end.  And based on the rest of the description, I'm glad that the Army spouse team won it instead of the second place team.

Final thought: the titular "Tears of a Clown" really came in the preview for the rest of the season.  The Race is not supposed to be "nice".  It's supposed to be hard.  A hell of a lot harder than sitting on your ass in a TV studio for months.

Edited June 16, 2018 by SVNBob

[SVNBob]

Going on a binge-let: only one episode a day.  That ought to give me plenty of time to get through the 4 seasons I need to watch before the currently shooting season airs.

Leg 2: Argentina.

To start, the cluster at with the first clue.  Since everyone got to the square long before the delivery time, did no one think to suggest that they all get their clue in an orderly fashion, instead of behaving like 20 ugly American children?  I mean, I would have suggested that teams get their clues in order of arrival, which had not changed from departure times, no matter if it was to my benefit or not.  And even if someone did suggest it, I'd wager there was one specific team that would have nixed that process.

Detour: Interesting options.  I'm not sure which option I would have taken.  It appeared that the fire option was faster.  But I also know the history of animal "assistance" on the Race, moreso with species known to be stubborn.  There'd be the fear in my mind that the donkey could be "broken", and that'd slow that side down to a crawl.  I'm also fairly mechanically minded, so I probably would have leaned to the solar cooker option like almost all the teams did, even knowing that it'd take a long time to get the water to boil.

Travel: Long-haul bus travel in the Race always has some complications somewhere.  And here, I wonder if it was a form of Cab Karma.  The Jersey boys used the Mississippi girls (as is the guido nature) and got ahead and onto the second bus, while the girls found themselves on the third.  But the second bus had the problems and the third passed them in the night, so the girls got moved way up in the pack, while the Jersey boys fell down again (taking 3 other teams with them).  Aside from the vehicle being larger, that feels a lot like Cab Karma kicking Jersey ass, and it's only Leg 2.

Roadblock:  I think my strategy for this one would be to try one calculation only for the first paddock.  If I got that one wrong, I'd go back and start counting the cows in the next one.  That way, I'd be ignoring the activity at the active paddock, and be ready to start dividing immediately once the auctioneer moved on.

I do like that a few of the teams did start teaming up on the task.  That hearkens back to an another old Race maxim I espouse: Alliances should be mutually-beneficial and temporary.  The teams that worked together did so just for this one task (so far) and only did so to check their math and get ahead of another team.

I also like that the Roadblock was the task that started turning the red-headed twit into Flo.  I have no idea what she was expecting going on the Race, but I do know that you can't make others to do the hard work for you.  To win the Race, you have to earn it, which means it's going to be hard.  And this is just Leg 2.  It's only going to get harder.  Suck it up or quit; preferably the latter.  (Schadenfreude is going to get me through much of this season.)

Overall, I do like that it was Mark of the Kentucky boys leg to shine.  He owned that Detour, and wasn't too shabby at the Roadblock.  It sounded like he made simple math mistakes, which can happen when you're trying to solve a problem under pressure and a time limit.  And good of his partner to give him full credit on both tasks, and trying to get Mark to stop kicking himself for the mistakes he made.  Good ol' boys indeed.  (Bonus point for their volume being lower throughout the leg.  Again, I get the excitement of Leg 1 and like their enthusiasm overall.  Still like them better when they ain't shouting.)

Also, while I didn't recognize the greeter myself, it was cool that the soccer twin did.  It looked like it surprised the greeter that any of the Racers would know who he is, so to be recognized and called a legend was awesome.  Also, the moment of the two guys just kicking around the ball at the mat was sweet, and probably a great thrill for said twin.

Alas, poor clowns.  Shoulda seen it coming when they mentioned his beating cancer twice at the top of the episode.  "Sob story" out of the blue in act 1 usually indicates the death knell in act 5.  Not surprising they had noses at the ready for their Philimination.  And the whole prepared walk/stumble into the sunset.  I just wish that the Amazing Editors would have cut short the circus music over the credits.  That went on too long.

Oh, speaking of the editors and music; I forgot to mention that I kinda this season's version of the opening theme.  I don't think I've heard it before, but it's a pretty good remix.  The electric guitar chords are a fitting touch and not too overpowered.

[SVNBob]

Leg 3: Paraguay.  Gonna talk about this one a little differently.

First off, that was indeed a show of domination by the Border Patrol in this leg.  The polar opposite of Leg 1 for the sisters; everything (except the start of the Roadblock) went right for them.  First place throughout the entire leg.  A very solid performance, and well-earned.  The smugness in the post-leg TH was a bit of a turn-off.  They now need to nearly get eliminated, to add some needed humility.

So much BaldSnarking at this Detour!  I think only 4 teams stuck with their original choice, and two of those almost switched.  I think I would have chosen the harp.  I did the math and that pyramid needed 385 watermelons.  Moving and stacking 400 melons in the heat, vs 36 harpstrings indoors?  Even with that snarl, the harp seems the better choice.

When the one Kentucky boy compared stringing a harp to running a gas throttle, I had to pause the episode for a moment.  While I never would have thought of that analogy, from what I remember from my Small Motors class in junior high, he's not wrong in the slightest.  It does work in a similar way.  And talk about an unusual crossover skill...  (Still need the volume down a bit though.  KF should help with that, I hope.)

Now that I've seen the Express Pass used...I'm still not sure about it.  I get why they used it; they had a lead on 5 teams before the Detour, then had a problem with the one side.  And all the other teams caught up as they BaldSnarked (including ones that also BaldSnarked.)  But was this the best use of it?  I don't know.  They probably would have liked to have had the option when they got to the Roadblock, that's for sure.

I would have sworn Rocker twin would have been better at the harp task.  As did he.  His experience should have been helpful.  But it really looked like Soccer twin was the better of the two at the task.

Roadblock was nutty.  Obviously, it was possible, but looked to be nearly not.  Having a bottle limit and a penalty thereafter looked to be a good compromise.  Otherwise there could have been a team or two days behind.  And was it just me, or did the clue-giving head dancer look somewhat like Survivor's Courtney Yates?

Credit where credit is due, the RHT did do well at the tasks in this leg.  She was pretty good at the harp Detour after they BaldSnarked, even managing to celebrate finishing quietly.  She also did really well at the Roadblock.  Even if it looked like she got a Botox treatment just before starting on that.  (So glad that the Amazing Editors threw that face in, with a close-up nonetheless.  It feels like they hate that this team is here too, and are using everything available to make them look bad.  Which, given the team, is a lot of ammunition.)

However, her behavior before BaldSnarking and during the transition between the two was expectedly poor and childish.  Yes, Vanessa (the Tiny of this season's HugeTiny team) did "start it" by trying to impede their melon gathering, then pointing out that RHT's ass was visible through her pants and snickering about it.  But to cite that as why you're BaldSnarking?  Congratulations, RHT, you've been psyched out!  And two other things regarding her complaining afterwards in the cab.  First, despite what your wardrobe would indicate, you're an adult.  If you're going to call another woman a bitch, just use the word "bitch"...bitch.  Second, "overdone makeup"?  When was the last time you looked in a mirror?...bitch.

Edited June 18, 2018 by SVNBob

[dgpolo]

Not a great season to watch, didn't like anyone in the finale. Mark and Bopper were the only ones I liked watching.

I went, Oh there's Art and JJ not having remembered them on the recent race. Jerks.

Dave and Rachel were certainly domineering in this season, too bad they kept fighting with each other.

Brendan and Rachel's first season. She certainly was whiny and got frustrated at the drop of a hat but she did complete all the challenges she did, still not likeable though.

I could NEVER do the math task, I have trouble remembering phone #s let alone trying to do an equation in the midst of all that chaos. Mark basically gave that one to Rachel.

Why didn't the teams pick the men with the -short- beards? Why? the pit stop in the cow barn was weird. And they need some non-stick spray for the mat!

Do they still use that digital u-turn board?

I thought it was very strange when Mark was doing the dancing, that Bopper was telling him to stop, that it was taking too much out of him, that his kids needed him at home, and Mark was saying he had to finish, just one more time etc. and then when Mark did finally quit, Bopper and the instructor were right there telling him to give it one more try, to show his kids he's not a quitter and finish the task. And then of course they pass him through on a bad showing (which they usually do when someone has done a task numerous times). I just wonder if they told Bopper they would do that.

[ratherbereading]

If I were Nary and Jamie, when confronted by Art and JJ about how they knew about UC operations, I would have looked them dead in the eye and said "I have family members that are cops."

 

Least likeable cast ever, apart from Mark and Bopper.

[dgpolo]

1 minute ago, ratherbereading said:

If I were Nary and Jamie, when confronted by Art and JJ about how they knew about UC operations, I would have looked them dead in the eye and said "I

This is how much showed up in my email notification. I hate that they cut it off these days. But this did make a good cliffhanger.